Filed under: Portable Audio
When you’re digging a hole for yourself, you might as well keep digging in hopes of emerging from the other side. Today SanDisk unearthed its Sansa slotMusic Player — specially designed for those ill-fated slotMusic microSD cards pre-loaded with DRM-free music from “dozens of popular artists” (a bit over 3 dozen to be exact) at $15 a pop. It’ll also play your self-loaded music on microSD cards (currently maxing out at 16GB) just as long as it’s loaded in either MP3 and unprotected WMA formats. The tiny, display-less, 2.8 x 1.4 x 1.4-inch (that can’t be right, but that’s what the press release says) player sells for $20 (or $35 for artist branding and 1GB slotMusic card album) and is available immediately along side a smattering of accessories from US shops like Best Buy and fittingly, Wal-Mart. Headed to Europe and other global destinations sometime in 2009 assuming the whole format isn’t scrapped after disappointing holiday sales are tallied.
Read — slotMusic Player
Read — slotMusic Artists
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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment
Tough luck, Mitsubishi and Funai. Big talk is all fine and dandy, but in our world, it’s the results that count. Say hello to Sharp’s AQUOS DX family, the world’s first range of LCD HDTVs to boast internal Blu-ray players. Slated to hit in 26- (LC-26DX1), 32- (LC-32DX1), 37- (LC-37DX1), 42- (LC-42DX1), 46- (LC-46DX1) and 52-inch (LC-52DX1) sizes, the whole lot will come equipped with an integrated HDTV tuner, bottom-mounted speaker and the ability to handle BD flicks sans an external deck. Of note, only the 37-inch through 52-inch sets offer Full HD 1080p resolutions (1,920 x 1,080), as the other two get stuck with “just” 1,366 x 768. Best of all, those in Japan will barely have to wait a month to see these in shops, as the entire crew is destined to ship in late November (in black and white motifs) for around ¥200,000 ($1,963) to ¥500,000 ($4,909) depending on size. As for the rest of the globe? Put on your patience caps.
[Via Impress]
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Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals
C’mon, what iPhone 3G user who actually takes full advantage of that 3G radio hasn’t been disappointed with battery life at one point or another? And be honest, you’re also disappointed with the downright naff battery extenders floating around out there. Granted, mophie’s iPhone 3G Juice Pack isn’t the most elegant thing in the entire world, but the “sled” design sure beats adding an unwanted appendage onto your handset. The device — which is shipping today to those who pre-ordered early — will reportedly provide up to 350 additional hours of standby, up to 6 hours of 3G talk time (or 12 hours on 2G), another 6 hours of web surfing and a 458% boost in overall happiness. Hell, you’d pay $99.95 just for the latter, now wouldn’t you?
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Filed under: Gaming
Good news, friends, you won’t have to wait until tomorrow to get at that new Flash 9 support offered up by the PS3 2.50 update: the firmware is available now. Sony tossed in a few other assorted updates like power-saving options and voice chat enhancements, but we’re sure you’ll be too busy watching Doogie Howser, M.D. on Hulu to notice. Happy downloading!
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Filed under: Laptops
We’ve had a chance to spend a little time with Apple’s new laptop offerings, and we wanted to give you a taste of what’s changed — and stayed the same — in the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Included after the break is a rundown of our impressions. We’re going to be doing a longer, thicker, more exciting review in the very near future, but this should give you an idea of what to expect if you’re planning on diving into one of these anytime soon. If you just want to get into the heavy stuff, you can hit the galleries below for a thorough look at the hardware.
If you’re wondering why the color temperature seems to vary in the photos, we shot it at the Revision3 studios while filming a segment for Tekzilla and they kept changing the lights (lovely folks, lighting changes notwithstanding).
Continue reading New MacBook / MacBook Pro unboxing and first impressions
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Filed under: Robots
It’s beginning to sound like a broken record, but WowWee has hit yet another homer with Mr. Personality. The latest from the firm to jockey for your hard earned dollars includes an LCD face and enough jokes / stories to keep you engrossed for hours. Max and Simon — this creature’s very own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — kept critics guessing, and each character was said to be “well developed and play off each other perfectly.” Continuing on, reviewers noted that the omnidirectional wheels were “incredible,” the remote was “simple and intuitive” and the sensor array was equally impressive. ‘Tis a shame — we bet you were really looking forward to holding onto that $300 of yours…
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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Robots
Ah, Robodance — how would we entertain ourselves without you? Just under a year ago, the software enabled robot lovers everywhere to control their i-SOBOT with an everyday Wiimote. Now, the same ability has been handed down for WowWee’s Rovio. You heard right, the latest, baddest robotic sentry on the block can now be dictated with your Nintendo Wii controller, and you can even customize your own own button assignments to suit your fancy. Hop on past the break for the demonstration vid.
[Via Hacked Gadgets]
Continue reading Robodance enables Wiimote control of your WowWee Rovio
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Filed under: Cellphones
Headset or no, talking on the phone while driving can be dangerous — either to you or to your license. Various states have various bits of legislation indicating what is and is not allowed while in motion, but what if you want to have somewhat more specific controls over your kids or workers? That’s the idea behind Aegis Mobility’s DriveAssist (not to be confused with BMW’s Drive Assist), described as a sort of nannified assistant for people on the go. Using GPS it determines the user’s “driving context,” disabling incoming and outgoing calls and texts and holding messages to deliver later. It’s an interesting idea, and given the risks of texting while driving in particular it’s a good one, but we wonder what happens if you’re on a bus or sitting in the passenger seat.
[Via textually.org]
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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Given that a PSP-3000 Ratchet & Clank Entertainment Pack managed to sneak out a few days back (and, you know, being that today’s the official launch day and all), you shouldn’t be too floored to hear that the altogether brighter PlayStation Portable is now available across North America. ‘Course, you’ll have to fork over $199.99 for the aforementioned bundle if you want it today — the less-frills black PSP-3000 kit (with just a 4GB Memory Stick) should be around next month.
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Filed under: Laptops
We just spent some quality time with the dual-graphics VAIO Z, so when we heard that the new MacBook Pros had a similar two-chip layout, we assumed switching from the integrated NVIDIA 9400M to the discrete 9600M GT would be just as easy — it’s just a switch on the Sony that can be flipped anytime. Too bad that’s not the case: according to a recently-posted Apple support document, switching graphics modes requires a trip to System Preferences and then a logout. Sure, it’s slightly better than a total restart, but it’s still a huge pain in the ass, and one we just don’t understand — if Sony can get Vista to handle it without issue, Apple should be able to get their own OS to deal. Here’s hoping Apple fixes this particular bag of hurt soon — we can’t see mobile pros flocking to this feature until they can seamlessly switch between graphics modes when going from the office to the road.
Update: We took a quick video of the machine switching modes, check it after the break.
Continue reading MacBook Pro requires logout to switch graphics modes
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